The Details

The Review

The Omission series is Portland, Oregon craft brewing stalwarts Widmer Brothers’ line of gluten-free offerings, the name obviously referring to the lack of a certain component that would readily exist in a brew with a normal malt bill.

This 12oz bottle pours a mildly hazy, medium copper amber colour, with one stout finger of weakly puffy, and mostly just bubbly off-white head, which leaves some attractive ocean spray lace around the glass as it easily slips away.

It smells of reserved bready caramel malt, a soft biscuity graininess, orange cream, understated pine and leafy hop notes, and a tame earthy yeastiness. The taste is more semi-sweet bready caramel malt, dry biscuity saltines, an ethereal orange and neutered grapefruit fruitiness, well-faded yeast, and a surprisingly peppy earthy, leafy, and somewhat grassy hoppiness. The bubbles are generally active and supportive in their straight-up frothiness, the body a decent medium weight for the style, and a bit too tacky to be deemed particularly smooth. It finishes rather dry, the biscuity nature starting to subsume the whole, as it were.

A pleasantly rendered gluten-free ale, if it absolutely has to be done. Since they state on the label that this is made with ‘malted barley, specially crafted to be gluten-free’, I’m gonna lump this in with the enzyme removal method for further classification, since there are still residual (albeit below the governing body’s standard) proteins flitting about here.